The grown up gamer
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Years ago I used to play an online game called EverQuest. It is one of the original (albeit not the first) massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG). It was a precursor to games like World of Warcraft, which seems to have attracted a significant audience since. I played it for several years and still keep in touch with several of the people, dotted around the world, that I used to play it with—some of whom still play themselves. Since leaving it, however, there are few other games that have interested me. And with so many other things to do, I've been okay with this.
I eventually gave up playing EverQuest because of the amount of time the game required somebody to put in if they wanted to advance. There was so much to do in the game that in order to keep up I would have had to dedicate almost all of my evenings and most of my weekends to it. Once upon a time this was fine and it wasn't uncommon for me to do just that. But life has this habit of catching up with you as you get older and games like that have to take a back seat.
Fast-forward to the present day and by comparison I'd hardly ever touch a game. Console games don't really interest me, perhaps for their narrow avenue of progression and definite end point (MMORGs don't have that). I've not looked for a replacement for my EverQuest days because I don't have the time for that. New technology, however, has allowed me to scratch an itch that somehow remained.
Once upon a time, mobile phones were just that: phones you could carry around. Then somebody put a camera in one and started a snowball. Before long, they were portable music systems as well. Now we have mobile touch screen computers that, almost as an aside, happen to be mobile phones. And where there are computers there are computer games.
I'm sure there are some ‘big' games for mobile devices, but by and large what I like about the games you get on phones is that they're small. They're not intricate and complex like you'd expect on a console. They're games you can dip into and out of at short notice. You don't need to set aside a specific time or be in a particular place. And yet the good ones have all the attractive qualities of an engaging MMORPG.
I've written previously of my addiction to Angry Birds. For the most part I'm cured of that now. I conquered every level to the best of my ability and was content to leave it alone. It's even been updated since, but I've resisted the urge to go back. I've moved on. Unfortunately I didn't move very far. The latest game to capture my interest is called The Simpsons: Tapped Out. It's based on the ever popular The Simpsons television series. Despite being one of the most bug-ridden games I've ever played, it's also one of the most addictive.
I dread to think how many hours I lost to EverQuest when I used to play it. I'm ashamed to say I doubt it would amount to anything less than whole weeks and even months of my life. I shudder when I think what else I could have achieved with that time. And yet, in spite of that, I'm at a point in my life where I would love to have as much time as possible to do other things, and I still find myself drawn towards yet another pointless game. It just goes to show that no matter how many games I grow out of, I'll probably never grow up.